Journalist fatally shot outside home in Ciudad Juárez

As both Liz and Urja have pointed out in our first two blog posts, the slaying of journalists has become a popular and unprecedented trend in Mexico over the past couple of years. Even with organizations such as Freedom House lending aid and encouraging Mexican officials to put an end to these atrocities, journalists are still living under the threat of being killed as a result of their profession. I believe it’s important to not only bring these killings to the attention of the world, but to also make them more tangible by sharing stories of individual reporters and their tragic stories.

Armando Rodríguez, a veteran police reported that had been investigating drug cartels in the city of Ciudad Juárez, was shot to death in November of 2008 while he was in his car outside of his own home. According to El Diario, the newspaper he had worked for, the gunmen had been waiting for him as he was preparing to bring his daughters to school. Rodríguez’s killing was the fifth against Mexican journalists in 2008.

According to the Dallas Morning News, after this event, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York issued a statement urging Mexico to end the attacks and slayings of their journalists. “’The unprecedented wave of violence against the Mexican press must be halted immediately,’ said Carlos Lauría, the committee’s senior program coordination for the Americas.”

I completely agree with Lauría and the rest of the advocates for ending crimes against journalists in Mexico and around the world. It is completely ridiculous that governments and crime groups, which are sometimes unfortunately one in the same, are pinpointing these people to suppress the freedom of speech and press in their countries.

by Keirin Ahmad